Lesson 3: Native Influence on Early American Feminists

This lesson builds on lessons one and two by discussing how to avoid the silencing, devaluing and discrediting of knowledge common within American history. In lesson one, students learned about how non-Native stereotypes about Native People function in devaluing Native People and their knowledge. In lesson two, students explored Indigenous knowledge about gender equality that is missed as a result of non-Native stereotyping and devaluing of Native People. This lesson teaches students how to avoid devaluing knowledge of certain people and groups by guiding them to see the importance of cultural exchange in the creation of new ideas.

First, students will have a large group discussion about the dominant narrative of feminism in the United States: that several progressive white women audaciously envisioned a gender-equal society. Then, students will listen to a PowerPoint lecture to learn about how Haudenosaunee (specifically Seneca) women and their societies influenced early American feminists as they envisioned their notions of equality. Finally, students will delve into a conversation on how today’s whitestream feminism discredits Native feminist theories.